Unforgettable (Family Justice Book 5)

by Suzanne Halliday

She hadn’t seen Finn since the Halloween party, thank god. It had been a long time since she’d had an episode like the one she struggled through that night. Since he was without a doubt a trigger, it seemed advantageous to steer clear of him as much as possible. She had the unsettling feeling of walking straight into a simmering volcano.

  Slowing as she approached Brody’s facility, Remy gathered all the inner fortitude she could find and pulled it around her like a protective shield. Sliding off the seat of her favorite run-around vehicle, she ran her hands down the front of her thighs and did a shimmy wiggle to ensure her jeans weren’t wedged in her ass or giving a camel toe display.

  The sound of dogs barking made her stop and look around as she approached the main building. Sidestepping Brody’s office she ambled around the building and took a peek through a tall chain link fence into an animal play-yard. A bunch of the canine crew were fooling around with a pack of dogs—running them through a water feature—and generally causing doggie mayhem.

  Getting a pet had been pretty high on her list when she arrived in Bendover but she still didn’t feel settled enough to drop the needs of an animal into her lap. There was enough to do keeping herself in working order.

  Her nose wrinkled at the reminder that where her personal life came into play, it was all smoke and mirrors.

  Taking the porch steps two at a time put her just outside the screen door without making a sound. Hearing voices, she slowed and tried to pick up what was being said.

  “You’re coming to Bella’s birthday party, right?”

  Dammit. Brody’s kid was having a birthday? Shit. She better get her ass in gear and whip a card out of her butt.

  Finn’s voice when he answered the question did funny things to her breathing.

  “Yeah, about that. I know exactly squat about a little girl’s birthday. Was sort of planning on sending a present with Meggie.”

  “Not on your life, O’Brien. She’s expecting you to be there. Keeps going on about some fucking magic trick.”

  Remy didn’t know what to do. Should she announce her presence or remain quiet? Brody sounded super irritated and Finn just sounded like he always did. An arrogant prick.

  “Don’t make me beg, man,” Brody complained. “She’s never had a birthday party, Finn. Come on. Slap a dumb smile on your face and make a little girl’s dreams come true.”

  “I like Bella. That kid is a badass.”

  “So what’s the damn problem then? Wrap up a present and get your ass to my place this weekend. I don’t get you. Most folks would fucking kill to have a family like Justice. Are we not good enough for you?”

  Just like that. With one furious question the temperature rose about a thousand degrees. Oh god. She really didn’t want to hear any more.

  “I’m a dick. You’re right, Jensen. But I’m fucking trying, man and the only reason I’m not ripping your face off is cause of your kid.”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  Remy’s eyes quickly looked around. Things were getting loud and heated. She didn’t think either man wanted their private beef to become public. Not another soul was in sight.

  “It means, ya’ shithead, that you’ve got balls trying to act all holier than thou. Don’t you dare rub my nose in shit you know nothing about! Where does it say you need a VA card to have issues? Huh? You guys don’t have a lock on that sort of shit so fuck off Jensen.”

  Whoa. She wasn’t sure if he had balls or a death wish. Maybe now was a good time to try and sneak away. They hadn’t noticed she was there.

  Backing away as quietly and slowly as she could, Remy silently crept down the steps and headed for the UTV. Reaching into her pocket for a hair tie, her fingers touched the sensor she was supposed to put on Finn’s truck.

  She glanced at the door to the office. Raised voices could be heard. Hastily scurrying to the rear of the truck, she was kind of pleased with her stealth and skill as she calmly mounted the tiny sensor under the truck’s bumper.

  Silently wiping dirt and grime from her hands she all but ran to her Ranger, hopped in and got the fuck out of there as fast as she could. A UTV similar to hers with a bunch of guys in tactical gear whizzed by as she sped back to the relative safety of her zone, far from Brody’s canine camp and the obnoxiously infantile Finn O’Brien.

  Parker studied the subdued angel, dutifully serving him breakfast. She was a curious creature sometimes, his Angelina.

  Last night she’d been on fire. The life of the party in her way-too-revealing costume. It had all been great fun. But there was an undercurrent between them that simply would not go away.

  This sometimes turbulent tide had many sources. All of them coming from her. He was running himself ragged trying to keep up with her wildly careening emotions and frankly he was sick of the taunts and jibes thrown his way because she was being a flighty mess.

  “More coffee?” she asked in a deceptively servile voice.

  He wasn’t fooled. Never had been and never would be. He knew her too damn well. This was Angie’s fall back maneuver and it was a good one. If used on anyone else but him.

  She was mentally regrouping after the masterful way he’d publically pinned her to the wall at Pete’s. All well and good except for one thing. Regrouping didn’t change the confusing signals she was sending.

  Sick to freakin’ death of hearing how women were mercurial and changed their minds too often, he was of a different opinion. Oh sure, there was probably a little bit of female nonsense going on, but at the heart of it was something else.

  She was unsure. Of exactly what he didn’t know, but it was there plain as day. And this thing with her parents. What the hell was that really all about? Wasn’t it enough to know that they were coming home to Arizona? And soon?

  Plus, there was something else. Something he didn’t get. At all.

  Wasn’t it the woman who was supposed to be the one who got excited about the wedding adventure?

  He palmed her ass when she bent to pour the hot coffee into a storm trooper mug she found at the Disney Store. Her silence was unusual but not unexpected. Not after the emotional explosion he found himself dealing with after their duet on stage. Man, did he ever have his hands full last night.

  After sitting across from him, she smiled sweetly and dropped a napkin into her lap. It was all so perfectly civil. And completely full of bullshit.

  The mind chooses strange moments to drop analogies and comparisons. As the hot coffee washed across his tongue and propelled heat into his throat, from nowhere a sudden scene appeared in his thoughts.

  When he was at the DOJ, he stumbled on a classic movie series at a theater outside the District. Weekdays, when business was slow, they showed old films in the middle of the day. Sometimes when his mind was overwhelmed with politics, government and law, he’d sneak out and catch whatever was showing.

  That’s when he became a serious fan of the Orson Welles masterpiece, Citizen Kane. The movie’s themes of money, power, corruption and never knowing who anybody really was personified his experiences inside the Washington Beltway.

  In the movie there was a domino-series of vignettes showing a couple going from breakfast table lovebirds to coolly polite strangers.

  This felt a little like that scene and he did not like it one bit.

  The tinkling sound of her spoon as she swirled it in her china cup seemed overly loud in the quiet. “What time do you want to leave for the villa?”

  She speaks.

  Today was a big day for Alex and Meghan. They were going to Flagstaff for their first sonogram. He and Angie were planning to greet them when they got back.

  He checked the calendar on his phone. “My schedule is full this morning. Why don’t we meet for lunch and then drive out there?”

  For whatever reason he didn’t wait for her to answer and detoured the subject at hand to the appointment they had with a jeweler.

  “Did you remember to put our appointment into your calendar?”

  �
��My phone’s charging right now.” Her tone and expression were completely neutral. She reached for a muffin-mini and tore it in half. “I’ll do it later.”

  Wrong answer but now wasn’t the time to call her on it. The lawyer in his head wasn’t about to play games so he asked the obvious.

  “Is this about last night?” He used a reasonable tone but even he heard the authoritarian challenge. Sometimes he wanted to smack himself up the side of the head.

  “I don’t know what you mean.” The small chunk of blueberry muffin got popped into her mouth. “Haven’t I done what you asked?”

  She needed a spanking and the twinkle in her eyes let him know she was definitely angling for one. But this wasn’t his first rodeo with her and he knew all too well where some over-the-knee discipline would end, so no way was he walking into her web.

  “No,” he drily sniped. She looked momentarily taken aback by his swift, firm response. “Grow up does not mean audition for a role. You got the part already angel.”

  Dropping her gaze, she hid her expressive eyes but he didn’t miss the quick lip bite.

  “Can we please not keep revisiting this? We’re getting married. I’ve asked way too many times. All we’re gonna do is look at rings. Stop making me feel like an ogre forcing you into some abhorrent arrangement. It’s just a ring, Angelina. Not a collar, although sometimes I swear to god you could use a bit of collaring.”

  Dammit. He didn’t mean for his voice to rise but she was touching a nerve.

  So many things flashed on her face he couldn’t keep up. Some looked familiar and some did not. Shit.

  The polite façade dropped and the Angie he knew started hissing at him. He’d take it and shut up. Better the angel-slash-devil he knew and not the one he didn’t.

  She balled up her napkin and tossed it with fury onto her plate. Parker recognized the fire and the challenge. His dick joined and woke up. Whatever she said was going to end with him fucking her.

  “What the fuck, counselor!”

  The tirade started with her hands everywhere. She pushed the hair behind her ears and sat up straighter in her favored bad girl with attitude pose. Twice her hands flew upwards with exasperation.

  This pseudo-argument would be way interesting with her hands bound. Where was a good piece of silk rope when he needed it?

  “I love you. Why isn’t that enough? Stop with this stupid ring thing. I don’t care about that kind of stuff and you know it.”

  He arched an eyebrow but kept quiet. She was in mid-roll and he was more interested in seeing where she was going than on shutting her down.

  “I’ve said I’d marry you and I even gave you the green light to ask again although admittedly,” she sniffed with affront, “I pictured something romantic and not a public challenge in front of a skunk-drunk crowd.”

  The lawyer answered before he could bite his tongue. “If, as you say, that sort of stuff doesn’t matter to you, then what’s the big fucking deal?”

  “Are you being deliberately obtuse?”

  Oh, fuck. The laughter inside his head got louder. Valleja-Marquez supremacy dripped off every word. Obtuse. How the hell could he not love this girl with all his heart and soul?

  “Stop trying to wind me up or change the subject.”

  With those few words he pulled the rug out from under her. She grumped so cutely, crossed her arms and sat back heavily in her chair. He saw her lips move in a very quiet murmur.

  “What?” he demanded gruffly.

  The insolent challenge in her vibrant eyes sealed her fate. “I said,” she ground out in a loud voice—the one she used to infer he was old— “what fun is that?”

  Hmm. Choices, choices, choices. Was she trying to force him to lower the boom? Did she want the macho thing? Could that be what was behind some of her foot dragging?

  Parker felt a small explosion of surprise. He hadn’t considered this before. Was she asking him to use his dominance over her and take control? Wow. He was going to have to really pick this unusual development apart.

  Time to pull back. He wasn’t entirely sure where this new revelation could lead. Breaking her down wasn’t how he envisioned this whole thing going, but that’s because sometimes he forget how young she was and how their turbulent history still had the power to hurt.

  He checked his watch. She sat quietly, arms still crossed, and waited for his next move. If dominance was what she wanted, well…no problem. Would buy a little time and also put a fucking smile on her face.

  “I’ll swing by and pick you up at twelve thirty. We can stop at Busty’s for lunch and then head out to the villa.”

  He sensed her shock that he was backing down in the middle of something.

  “Are you finished?” he asked politely with a nod at their breakfast.

  She sniffed, looked surprised, and bit her lip. “Uh, yes.”

  He tossed his napkin down. “Good. Then go and take your clothes off. Bend over the end of the bed and wait for me.”

  “What are you going to do?” she asked.

  His lip curled at the sound of excitement in her voice. “I’m going to teach your ass and probably your mouth a lesson.”

  Angelina Valleja-Marquez did everything in her power to mask the glimmer of delight in her eyes. He was going to let her have this one because there was new information that he needed time to process.

  Not one to blindly follow orders without adding a few personal touches of her own, she calmly stood up and just as coolly put on one hell of a nasty strip show. Then, buck ass naked, she walked from the kitchen and headed upstairs.

  He watched her go and smiled. Taking the low road, retreating, re-evaluating current conditions…all good things when combined with a sweetly seductive invitation to fuck her into next week.

  Once again, putting a ring on it would have to wait.

  22

  Alex figured that by not moving and remaining perfectly still maybe, just maybe, he’d manage not to totally freak the fuck out. Something heavy was squeezing his chest and regardless of the fact that the car was comfortable, he was swinging wildly between sweating his balls off and feeling like he was sitting on a block of ice.

  Meghan was beside him in the back of the limo and appeared afflicted with the same stillness. Over the last few weeks he’d gotten used to her cradling her belly but right now her hands were curled fists, thumbs hidden and limp at her sides. Classic sign of enormous stress pushing against control so fierce she almost looked relaxed.

  Relaxed? Pfft. He was drowning in the unseen tidal wave of her churning emotions.

  Glancing down, he noticed the chain attached to a button on his vest. He so badly wanted to reach for the heirloom gold pocket watch and flip it open but he knew doing so might get her all riled up.

  His wife gave him the antique timepiece, something of her grandfather’s, before their wedding. The name Aiden O’Brien was inscribed in the gold case. The moment he first saw it, Alex knew in his heart of hearts that that’s what he wanted to call his son.

  Now was probably not the best time to remind her of that.

  Jesus-effing-Christos. Two hours ago they were laughing, holding hands and acting like kids as they waited for the doctor to begin the ultrasound.

  Now look at them. He was impersonating a statue and she was… well, he didn’t know what she was since his wife hadn’t spoken but a dozen words since the doctor dropped her bombshell.

  The last twenty minutes of the appointment happened in a blur and he couldn’t repeat a single word Doctor Sterner said. Completely and utterly unprepared for the news they received, he’d shut down and focused on only one thing. Making sure Meghan was okay.

  Unfortunately for him, she wasn’t giving off many clues so hoping for ‘okay’ was still a work in progress. They’d walked to the car in silence. Ben took one look at their blank expressions and backed off so fast, Alex hoped the guy didn’t get whiplash.

  And now here they were on the return to Bendover, and all he could think of wa
s how shit really did change in the blink of an eye.

  “Settle down woman,” Draegyn chuckled. “You’re going about a thousand miles an hour.”

  Tori gave him some exaggerated stink-eye but her mouth also curled at the corners. He was right. Though all she drank these days was caffeine free stuff, that didn’t stop her from having the equivalent of a Red Bull meltdown waiting for Alex and Meghan to get back from Flagstaff. Everyone was on high alert anticipating the results of Red’s first ultrasound.

  “Can’t wait for our ultrasound,” she whispered huskily. Her husband gave her a smoldering look. They hadn’t made an official announcement yet because raining on the Marquez baby parade would be shitty, but they were pregnant. Again. And both of them could not be more delirious with joy.

  “What are you two whispering about over there?” Angie screeched from her spot across the big great room.

  Her hair piled in a sloppy knot, she was sketching something on a big pad with Parker at her side busily tapping away on his phone. No doubt the sketching had to do with last minute plans for the family center opening. Since big public events were something Angie was responsible for with the family winery, she easily became everyone’s de facto planner for all gatherings, big or small.

  Taking her by surprise, Draegyn practically shoved her onto the sofa up against the arm and caged Tori in by sitting directly next to her. He hand-gestured his feelings about Angie’s question and answered in the most arrogantly St. John way possible.

  “If we wanted you to know, we wouldn’t whisper.”

  Parker snicker-laughed, elbowed Angie, and went back to whatever he was so focused on.

  Carmen bustled into the room looking more than a bit flustered. Tori’s eyes darted to her husband’s face to see if he noticed. The slightest arch of one impeccable brow informed her that yes, yes, he had.

  “Benito called ahead. He says they’re fifteen minutes out.”

  “And?”

  Draegyn’s delivery demanded she spit out whatever had her in a dither. The expression on Carmen’s face suggested Draegyn knew what he could do with not just his question but also his tone.